This article presents the results of an experiment that was set up to determine the effectiveness of a self-directed learning method in English for Special Purposes at the "Ecole des Mines" in France. A group of students devoted two of their allotted three-and-one-half hours per week to semi-autonomous work. Through a questionnaire, the students were asked to compare their year's work in semi-autonomy with the previous year's work in terms of the progress they had made and the pleasure they had experienced. The majority of the students found the program more effective and more pleasant than traditional methods, and half of them found it equally effective. A detailed discussion of the questionnaire and teacher's observations indicate that there were enough positive features to warrant further experimentation along the same lines. (AMH)